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THE 



GLORIOUS MISSION 



or THE -— — '"^ * # 



AMERICAN PEOPLE; 



% ^jiauksping iiBrDDtM. 



BY 



JAMES ROWLAND, 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN GHURCH, 
CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO. 

Nov. 28, 1850. 



CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO . 

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
1850. 






Printed al the Religious Telescope Office, 
East Main St., Circleville, O. 



DISCOURSE. 



" He hath not dealt so with any nation" — Ps. 147 : 20. 

It is not probable that the actors in those stirring scenes, 
which in times past have wrought the most wonderful chan' 
ges in society, were aware of the importance which suc- 
ceeding generations would attach to them and their deeds. 
If we look back over the page of secular history, we can 
trace many of the developements of the present age to 
causes which are far removed by time. When we view the 
sturdy oak, Avhose massive trunk has stood the shock of 
many rude tempests, and whose boughs are continually 
spreading and putting on new foliage, we know that once, 
— perhaps scores of years, or centuries ago — its germ was 
concealed within the husks of the tiny acorn. So the germ 
of many of the institutions of the present day was envel- 
oped in the revolutions of past ages. We are able to assign 
to each of them its due importance, because we can trace 
their developement in the record of history and witness 
^ their bearing upon the present condition of society. 

The Israelites entered into the possession of Canaan with 
grateful hearts, regarding it as the land long promised to the 
seed of faithful Abraham, and as their " goodly heritage." 
They fought long and bravely with the idolatrous nations 
who had obtained it ; but they could not have anticipated 
the important results which were pending the issue of this 
conflict. They could not have foreseen how the whole world 



4 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 

was to be affected by their acts. Our Pilgrim Fathers fled 
from persecution that they might obtain for themselves and 
their descendants the privilege of enjoying their own opin- 
ions, untrammeled by ecclesiastical inquisitions ; but they 
could not have been aware of the mighty consequences 
which were to result from an act so simple and natural as 
this. They did not know that the May-Flower contained 
the precious germ of a great nation, — the germ of civil and 
reliofious freedom; and the fferm of that tree whose leaves 
are for the healing of nations. Our revolutionary sires 
contended for a great principle, — the right of being repre- 
sented in the government which they were taxed to support; 
but they could not have known that on Bunker Hill they 
were lighting a beacon which will be responded to from 
every hill and mountain summit on our globe ; until upon 
demolished thrones and prostrate empires shall be planted 
the institutions of freedom. 

Although changes and revolutions have marked the whole 
history of our race, yet most of these are subordinate, 
and may be traced back to one of those great crises that 
have occurred in the world's history, but which are few in 
number. Such of these as transpired before the christian 
era, have been distinctly indicated by prophecy. These 
eventuated in the establishment of three universal empires, 
each of which formed a crisis in the civil and political con- 
dition of our race. They were not merely the breaking up 
of a kingdom, or the changing of a dynasty, but they were 
events which transformed the whole face of society, giving 
birth to new institutions and new modes of life. Standing 
as we do, far removed from these scenes of commotion and 
strife, we can look back and comprehend the precise agency 
of each in preparing the way for a new and better dispensa- 
tion. The Syrian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the 



OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. D 

Roman empires each had a special mission in preparing the 
way for the advent of the Savior. Thus God in his provi- 
dence — according to prophetic declaration — overturned and 
overtnr7ied and overturned, until He came who was to estab- 
lish an everlasting kingdom. 

The point upon which I wish these prefatory remarks to 
bear is, the probability that this nation has some such hea- 
ven appointed mission. And that, though unconscious 
of it ourselves, our present condition as a people is des- 
tined, at no distant period, to affect the social, pohtical, 
and moral condition, of the whole civilized and savage world. 
God, in his providence, has never heaped such a crushing 
weight of responsibility upon any nation as he has upon us. 
And here I must premise, that in surveying the field of en- 
quiry thus opened to the mind, I should utterly despair of 
presenting anything like an adequate view of the subject, 
were it not that I can rely upon your own knowledge of the 
present condition of the country, and of the influence which 
causes now in operation will be likely to exert to supply 
whatever illustration I shall be compelled to omit. In look- 
ing at our position as a nation, we cannot fail to be impres- 
sed with the importance of the 2^lo,ce that we occupy, as we 
stand related to other nations. There are many things pe- 
culiar to us, that render both our national character and 
the circumstances which surround us, entirely different from 
that of any people who have ever existed. 

I. The first, which I shall notice, is our form of govern- 
ment and the manner of its origin. 

I need not consume time, by rehearsing here what you 
are all familiar with, or by referring to those causes which 
gave birth to our peculiar institutions. 

It is sufficient, for my present purpose, to say, that this is 



6 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 

the first and only Republic whose institutions have been 
planted on the religion of the Bible; or that has regarded 
the law of God as paramount. Other Republics have lived 
and died, that in their day have exerted a most important 
influence upon the world; but they were not Christian Re- 
publics. They had their origin from far diff'erent causes, 
and their end was widely different, from what we may hope 
awaits us. It seems as though they had been called into 
life, to illustrate the impossibility of affecting any permanent 
change in the condition of man, merely by secular civiliza- 
tion and civil libertJ^ "Possessing a part of the elements 
of civilization in great richness, they lacked the noblest and 
most effective of them all. Their civilization was natural. 
It was neither created by the highest forms of religion, nor 
pervaded by the pure spirit of divine love, nor irradiated by 
supernatural intelligence, nor guided to the most noble ends 
by the precepts of a noble humanity. The mighty stream 
of evil passion flowed on unchecked, unpurified; and though 
it meandered through meadows enameled with flowers of 
every hue, amidst parks of most majestic trees, and by tem^ 
pies and palaces of noble architecture, yet it was the same 
foul and destroying current still. 

No prophet had sprinkled salt upon its bitterness; no in- 
tellectual culture had sufficed to cleanse away its putridity. 
In due time the beauty that had adorned its banks faded; 
its marble glories crumbled; its majestic oaks lost their foli- 
age, and death and solitude reigned in unbroken sovereign- 
ty. Greece and Rome! what are they now but sad and 
splendid illustrations of the imbecility of these outward and 
earthly influences to secure man's noblest elevation. For 
this they rose; for this they attracted by their meteor bril- 
liancy the notice of all time; for this they set forever in a 
night of gloom and death." 



OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. T 

2. Another peculiarity, in our government is the unity of 
its design. 

Our forefathers could never have anticipated such a rapid 
spread over territory, or such an influx of population as -vve 
now behold. The Constitution of the United States vi^as fra- 
med with reference to the wants of the thirteen original 
Colonies. But, in the providence of God, it was so ordered, 
that there should be represented all the diverse interests, and 
elements of conflict which can ever arise to disturb the har- 
mony of the whole. The sectional interests of South Caro- 
lina and of Massachusetts, were as diverse then, as they 
are now; or as those of Maine and Louisiana. 

In the formation of this government, the interests of the 
slaveholder and of the freeman in their widest sense — of the 
cotton grower and the cotton manufacturer were all taken 
into consideration. And in meeting the exigencies of the 
case, as it was presented to the framers of the constitution, 
they were obliged to anticipate all the difficulties that can 
possibly arise from sectional and conflicting interests. At 
the present time, though as a nation we have spread over 
a vast amount of territory, yet the same constitution 
which gave birth to the confederacy, is competent to secure 
its perpetuity. If there are adverse interests, there is still 
the same unity that we observe in the human body. This 
is composed of many members, having diff"erent functions 
and offices ; yet one heart beats for them all ; one unbro- 
ken current of hfe animates the whole, and one will con- 
trols and directs every movement. This I say is unity, 
whether it exists in the body corporeal or political. To 
illustrate the importance of this, I refer briefly to the policy 
of the only republic that presents any analogy to our own. 
Rome, embraced a vast amount of territory. " Her juris- 
diction extended from the highlands of Scotland to the 



8 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 

pillars of Hercules, and the mountains of Armenia." But 
she was composed of many conquered and tributary nations. 
Retaining as they did their national feelings, language arici 
customs; they bowed their necks unwillingly to the yoke (!)i 
subjugation. The chains of bondage chafed their HmbsJ 
and they only waited for some general commotion, lo rise 
against their oppressors and resume their independent sove- 
reignty. 

We have no conquered nations. All this vast territory, 
teeming with life and industry has but one heart. "When- 
ever in the course of human events new territory has beei 
acquired, whether by war or by treaty, it is at once incor- 
porated into the federal family, and its people enjoy all the 
privileges of American citizens ; thus becoming identified 
with the Union, its interest is theirs and its glory theirs, — 
one heart, one soul, one will, give life and energy to the 
whole. 

3. A third peculiarity is the element of perpetuity. 

This consists in the power to reform abuses, or even to 
change the entire policy of the government without recourse 
to arms. In all other nations, a change of fundamental 
principles, can only be effected by revolution. Every new 
constitution must be written in blood ; and that the blood 
of its wisest and best citizens. The axe, the guillotine and 
the gibbet, are all brought into requisition, — the fairest por- 
tions of the land desolated, and thousands swept into eter- 
nity, before the first step can be taken in civil legislation. 
But in our government there is a recuperative principle en- 
grafted in the constitution itself, by which all these changes 
are wrought without strife and bloodshed. The farmer 
does not throw down his plow to seize his musket. The 
hum of the manufacturers wheels does not cease for a day. 
The student does not interrupt his researches ; or the arti- 



OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 9 

zan break off from his discoveries. Every thing moves on 
in its accustomed channels ; yet the whole government is 
ohanared, from the Chief Magistrate down to the humblest 
oierk. There may be evils and abuses in such a system, 
out it is the self regulating power of the government, 
which we no more dare destroy than we dare imprison the 
vapors of the steam boiler. The moment we do it, we shall 
have not merely revolution, but destruction. 

II. God " hath not dealt so with any nation" in regard 
to the developements in art and science which chai-acterize 
Ihe present age. 

No age has equaled our own in discoveries. And as no 
nation can claim so large a share of the honor — certainly 
none will receive a greater proportion of the blessings, re- 
sulting from them. We may attribute this mainly to the 
permanence of our government, and the freedom of our 
institutions. No votary of science has been compelled, at 
the dictation of a priest, to renounce his opinions, and like 
Gallileo upon his bended knees to say "I hate, curse, and 
detest " a theory which he had just demonstrated. The 
minds of the people, instead of being trammeled by the 
infallible decrees of spiritual councils, have been permit- 
ted to unfold all their energies, in discovery and improve- 
ment. For seventy years there has been nothing to inter- 
rupt the march of genius, to the perfection of the most 
gigantic schemes. One inventive mind has improved upon 
the work of another, or if one dies another assumes his 
place in the laboratory, or in the shop, and the work advan- 
ces, as though one genius had presided over the Avhole. 
This is not only the result of one national prosperity ; but 
should be regarded as the means of perpetuating it. Dis- 
covery has kept pace Avith the wants of the country, and 
by the speed of locomotion and the facilities afforded for the 



10 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 

transmission of intelligence, we are secured from those 
disasters which, under other circumstances would necessa- 
rily befal us, from our unwieldly dimensions. If these im- 
provements had not been equal to our national growth, we 
must inevitably have fallen to pieces from want of conti- 
nuity. Here again, though a great body, we are still 
one. These mighty rivers are our veins and arteries; 
these railroads are bands and ligaments that bind us com- 
pactly together, and these telegraphic wires are our nerves. 
Along these slender threads the will of the nation moves, 
with the velocity of thought. Whatever cause may pro- 
duce an excitement in the people of New York, or Wash- 
ington, moves them simultaneously at St. Louis, or New 
Orleans. These things have ceased to impress us with 
wonder, because we have became accustomed to them ; but 
if we revert to the time, when our good pious fathers 
of Connecticut asked the prayers of the church, before 
they ventured upon a journey to New York; or to the time 
within our own recollection, when the western farmer 
transported his produce to New Oi'leans at the rate of three 
miles an hour, and then toiled back through the wilderness 
on foot, we shall better appreciate their importance. These 
should not be regarded simply as wonderful triumphs of 
genius, but as the means by which God designs to secure 
us in the possession of our " goodly heritage." He never 
has permitted a nation of idolaters, however refined or 
learned they may have been, to possess these elements of 
perpetutity. If he had, the fate of Greece and Rome 
might have been far different from what it was. We may 
believe that God has important designs to accomplish, in 
making over to us these rich legacies. They carry with 
them power — such power as He has never trusted in the 
hands of infidels or idolaters. It is a singular fact, that 



OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 11 

many of the most important discoveries of the present age ; 
those which have done more than any others to propa- 
gate Christianity, have begun in nations that have not re- 
ceived the blessings of the christian rehgion. In some 
respects they have even exceeded us. Recent discoveries 
reveal to our astonished gaze the perfection which many of 
the arts had attained, in those places that for many centu- 
ries have been concealed from the eye of man. With all 
our discoveries in manufactures, "what artist can dye the 
Tyrian purple ?" We look at those wonderful blocks of 
granite and marble, which now stand as monuments of de- 
cayed strength; but what engineer of the present day can 
conceive how they were transported to their places? With 
all these evidences of their skill, we know from their histo- 
ry, that they were not able so to apply their discoveries as 
to produce any change in their social condition; or so as 
to give them that commanding influence which they have 
given us. Why, we may ask, was not the possession of 
this knowledge made an element of power ? Instead of 
directing their energies to the erection of pyramids, and 
the building of temples, why did they not conceive the 
idea of internal improvement ? Simply because God was 
not willing that they should. It was better for the world 
that they should build these splendid monuments, than 
construct railroads, by which to strengthen and perpetu- 
ate their iniquitous institutions. If we come down to a 
more modern period in the history of inventions, we shall 
find that the Chinese navigator understood the use of the 
mariner's needle long before it guided Columbus across 
the ocean. Why did they not discover the New World ? 
They possessed the art of printing, before the fourteenth 
century and understood its application as well as they do 
now. Why have they never made it contribute to the in- 



12 THE QL0EI0U8 MISSION 

telligence and virtue of the nation? So the Arabians un- 
derstood Algebra ; they employed the same numerical fig- 
ures that are now used throughout Christendom, long be- 
fore their introduction into the seats of learning in the 
west. In the science of astronomy, in the manufacture of 
paper from cotton, they preceded all other nations. Why 
did all these researches in chemistry, and astronomy, and 
their discoveries in the arts and sciences, produce no 
change in their social or political condition ? The answer 
is the same. These are elements of power, Avhich God 
has permitted none but christian nations to wield, and de- 
velope to their fullest extent, because whatever nation pos- 
sesses them must obtain an ascendancy too great to be per- 
mitted where there is danger of its abuse — And here we 

o 

may read our high and holy mission to other nations. 

These are the forerunners of the gospel to all lands. 
They see our superiority, they acknowledge our greatness; 
they feel our power, and they will naturally seek for that 
religion which has given us this supremacy. " The prestige 
is Avith us, and the presumption is spreading farther and 
farther, that the same form of religion is desirable also 
for other people ; that it would accomplish among them 
what it has done for us." Thus in one sense, every ves- 
sel that goes to Pagan lands, laden with the fruits of indus- 
try and skill, is a mission ship. It carries with it prac- 
tical evidence of the salutary influences of Christianity. It 
preaches to the understanding, if it does not touch the 
heart, and prepares the way for the reception of the truth. 

III. God hath not so dealt with any nation as it regards 
the peculiar mission to which we are called. 

As I have already remarked, we learn from prophecy, 
that the republics of Greece and Rome, had a special mis- 
sion to fulfil in preparing the way for a new dispensation. 



OF tHE AMERICAN PEOPLE. l3 

It is not unlikely, indeed it is highly probable, that it is 
our mission to complete the work of redeeming a world 
from idolatry; or at least, to put into operation those cau- 
ses which will result in the conversion of its inhabitants to 
the true religion. The work of Missions is a great Avork. 
It is the only way that Providence has yet indicated, by 
which the principles of Christianity can be made to bear 
tipon the heathen mind. But after all it is only prepara- 
tory. It is necessary that the christian scholar should visit 
idolaters in their own land; that by becoming acquainted 
with their customs and manners, and familiar with their 
language, he may give them the word of life ; thus form- 
ing a nucleus, around which may be gathered the charms 
of virtue and religion. But God is now unfolding to us a 
new method, by which the work of Evangelizing the world 
is to be advanced more rapidly. He is bringing the hea- 
then to us. We have colonies already planted in our midst 
from the principal civilized nations of the globe. The half 
civilized and savage are beginning to come; and soon we 
may expect that not only nations, but the various tribes of 
which they are composed will be represented here. 

Three years ago, upon a thanksgiving occasion, I re- 
marked, that as the immigration had been rolling in upon 
our Eastern shore, so it would soon come in upon the Pa- 
cific coast ; and that the vast population of China and 
India would pour in a mighty and unbroken current upon 
our Western border. I even ventured to predict that some 
of us might live to see a settlement of Chinese planted 
there, and becoming part of the American Republic. This 
was before the acquisition of California, and the discovery 
of its mineral wealth. Now we behold the prediction real- 
ized, and Bibles in the Chinese language, are actually sent 
by our Foreign Missionaries to the Chinese in America ; 



14 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 

that these benighted strangers may learn the source of all 
our blessings, and rejoice with us in "That liberty where- 
with Christ maketh his people free." And soon, instead 
of sending forth Americans, who have to acquire a new 
language, and who must encounter all the prejudice of 
ignorance; we shall send to all parts of the worhl, native 
preachers, speaking their own language, acquainted with 
their customs and manners, and claiming them as kindred 
and friends; but converted to Christianity, and devoted to 
our institutions civil and religious. It is in this way that 
our country is to lay its mighty hand upon the foundations 
of superstition and idolatry, and prostrate them in the 
dust ; till upon Satan's empire demolished is unfurled the 
banner of liberty, virtue and religion. 

As the largest rivers have their origin in those small 
springs which trickle down the mountain side unnoticed> 
so the greatest revolutions in society have been traced 
to causes apparently trivial. The overthrow of the Brit- 
ish government, and the beheading of Charles, were the 
direct result of an edict, that a few years before, com- 
manded Cromwell and Hampden to disembark from the ves^ 
sel in which they were about to leave their country for- 
ever. So, we may believe that these small beginnings, 
which we now discover, are to result in consequences of 
vast importance to our race. These are springs that will 
eventually spread, until every sterile desert on our globe is 
refreshed with the waters of life. It cannot be otherwise, 
than that these developements, which are now unfolding 
themselves around us, are destined ultimately to affect for 
good the people of every land. 

God never permitted this great nation to gain such an 
ascendancy for nothing. The tide of immigration which 
now rolls upon us, tainted with impurity and sin, will 



OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 15 

eventually roll back, purified, and bearing upon its waves 
the blessings of religion and freedom. All analogy teach- 
es us, that this is an eventful era in the history of the 
world. The signs of the times indicate it. The word of 
God declares that the time shall come, when idolatry and 
delusion shall cease, and when the kingdoms of this world 
shall become the kingdoms of our Lord. We may not be 
aware of the important place that we occupy ; but future 
history will reveal it ; and coming generations will look 
back to this, as the turning point in the destiny of the 
world. 

If, then, the mission of our country is the cause of God; 
or if its interest has become identified in any way with 
the success of Messiah's kingdom, He who has planted it 
amid dangers innumerable ; who has protected us from 
foreign oppression and domestic strife, will continue to be 
its God and Protector. There are, it is true, great and ap- 
palling dangers before us ; but if a knowledge of their 
nature should arouse us to exertions corresponding with 
their magnitude, we may still escape the catastrophe which 
many predict. Some descry the gathering storm in Pope- 
ry ; some in Slavery, and some in Barbarism ; just accord- 
ing to the idiosyncracy of their own minds. 

1. We may regard it as an established truth, that Sa- 
tan Avill never yield up his dominion without a struggle. 
And if this nation is to act an important part in the estab- 
lishment of the kingdom of Christ, we must expect to en- 
counter the rage of Anti- Christ. There are many who 
have dismal forebodings, respecting the issue of those great 
movements that we behold on the part of a foreign spirit- 
ual despot. And his Lordship— &s his own paper styles 
him— the Arch-Bishop of New-York, has recently edified 
his hearers with a discourse upon the decline of protestant- 



16 



THE GLORIOUS MISSION 



ism, and the probability that ere long the President and 
government of the United States will all be converted to 
Romanism. But his mind must have been more intent up- 
on his own blushing honors, since his accession to the sa- 
cred pallium, than upon the statistics of his church. The 
Catholic Almanac for the year eighteen hundred forty-nine 
—which surely should be regarded as good authority upon 
this point — states, that there has been "no increase in the 
dioceses of Baltimore, New Orleans, Louisville, Boston, 
Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, Mobile, Detroit, Vin- 
cennes, Natchez, Pittsburg, Little Rock, Milwaukee, Al- 
bany, Galveston, and Buffalo." Where then has been 
this mighty accession, which is soon to change the Ameri- 
can Republic into an Ecclesiastical despotism, and to bring 
the degenerate sons of patriot sires into a state of vassalage 
to an European despot ? Not long since, this same digni- 
tary, in a lachrymal mood, says in the Freeman's Journal, 
" The only green spots in this wide spread desert, are the 
dioceses of Cincinnati, Dubuque, Nashville, Chicago and 
Oregon." According to the same authority, " the total 
DECRExiSE of Catholics during the year has been one 
hundred and nine ihouscmd and four hundred." — and that 
in a country where the foreign immigration (mostly Cath- 
olic) was more than two hundred and thirty thousand. 
Says the Rev. Albert Barnes, 

* "I look at the relative position which they now oc- 
cupy, compared with what they once did in our own land. 
We are astonished at their growth. We forget that the 
Protestant growth is vastly greater. We are alarmed at 
their numbers when we are told in their almanac, that they 
amount to a million and a quarter. We forget the twenty 

* For these, and many other valuable statistics, see Barnes' Home Mis- 
sionary sermon, delivered in New York and Philadelphia, ]849, 



OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 17 

millions of Protestants. We are alarmed when we are told 
of the number of their churches. They report nine hun- 
dred and sixty-six. Protestants number theirs by thou- 
sands. We are frightened by the number of their priests. 
They report eight hundred and seventy three in the min- 
istry, and one hundred and fifty-three " otherwise em- 
ployed." Protestants number some twenty thousand. 
Once, the strong towns were theirs — Pittsburg, and St. 
Louis and Baltimore and the whole West were to choose. 
A few years since, in a popular vote in St. Louis, they 
could poll two to one to the Protestant population ; now 
two Protestants could cast their votes where one Roman 
Catholic could. The traveller at the West finds already a 
few decaying or dilapidated towns. They are strange 
anomalies in the New World— but there they are— seats 
of former Catholic power— selected to control the nation— 
and proofs after all of a singular want of sagacitj^ These 
are Cahokia, and Kaskaskia, and Galhpolis, and St. Gene- 
vieve, and Prairie du Chien; bearing French names, and 
indicating their origin, standing in strange contrast with 
the smiling villages, and the splendid cities around them. 
Meantime there have sprung up Cincinnati and Louisville, 
and Chicago and Milwaukie, and Galena, and Peoria, and 
Quincy, and Madison, and a thousand other places where 
the Catholic never had the ascendancy, and never will." 

If there were no other reason we might infer, from the 
character of their priesthood, that they never can obtain 
an ascendancy over the American mind. "A clergy to 
have power in this land, must be of the people; must have 
a large share of American feeling ; must enter into all 
our notions of civil liberty, and mental freedom ; must fall 
in with all that can properly be called the developement 
of the principles of the Declaration of Independence— 
2a 



18 



THE GLORIOUS MiSSION 



with all that was represented at Jamestown, on the Rock 
at Plymouth, or when the great Quaker laid the founda- 
tion of Pennsylvania. But a foreign clergy, educated with 
foreign notions; never assimilating with the American 
mind ; never making books to affect the American mind 
as such— what can they expect to do beyond the limits 
of their own denomination ? What Catholic priest makes 
a book that tells upon the American mind, or preaches so 
as to affect the American heart ? Who will point me to 
an elementary book in education, in morals, in jurispru- 
dence, in history, in theology, in the exposition of the 
Scriptures from the multitudes of the Cathohc priesthood 
in this land, that is adapted to mould the American mind? 
Where, beyond the limits of those who come to us from 
abroad, do they make any impression?" Beside, we 
should remember that they have always depended upon 
the ignorance of their votaries for success. The Ameri- 
can people must degenerate sadly before they can be im- 
posed upon by such unmeaning and blasphemous ceremo- 
nies as have always characterized the successful operations 
of Komanism. What educated mind can feel anythino- 
but disgust for a church that has solemnly consecrated a 
day to the worship of an ass ! But it is true, that a festi- 
val has been observed, under the sanction of the infallible 
head of the church, in honor of the ass which carried 
Mary and the infant Saviour into Egypt. Says a learned 
historian who witnessed the ceremony at Beauvais, — 

" A beautiful young woman, richly attired, was chosen 
to represent the virgin Mary, and an infant was placed in 
her arms. She then mounted an ass richly caparisoned, 
and rode in procession from the cathedral to the church of 
St. Stephen, Avhere she was placed near the altar, and high 
mass commenced." 



OF THU AMERICAN PEOPLE. 19 

Then began the solemn chant of praise — to Avhom ? 
To the God who created us or to the Savior who redeemed 
us ? No; but to the praise of an ass. Surely, if the days 
of miracles had not passed, we should expect that, like 
Baalam's, the dumb ass would have spoken to reprove the 
madness of the people. A single verse taken from the 
ode sung upon the occasion will be sufficient to show the 
elevated strain of their anthem — 

"See his broad majestic ear, 
Born he was the polte to wear; 
All his fellows he surpasses; 
He's the very lord of asses." 

" The officiating priest then turned to the people and in 
a fine treble voice, — and with great apparent devotion — 
brayed three times like an ass, (whose representative he 
was) and the people responded, by braying three times in 
concert. " * You will pardon me for giving a description 
of this impious mummery here ; I do it to show how degra- 
ded and ignorant a people must become, before Popery can 
exert its baneful influence in our land. And so long as 
education is cherished among us, and the school house is \ 
planted down amid the oaks of the primeval forest, it 
can never bring the American mind to such a point of de- 
gradation as this ! 

* This "charming" ode, consisting of nine verses, was accompanied by 
the following chorus to each verse. 

"Now seignior ass, a noble bray; 
That 'beauteous mouth' at large display. 
Abundant food our hay-lofts yield, 
And oats abundant load the field." 
This ceremony was observed in England as well as on the Continent at 
the feast of circumscision, but was finally abolished under the influence of 
the Reformation. But having been approved by the infallible head of the 
Church, It follows that it ii a fitting ceremony for christians to engage in, 
and would be to the edification of the church, if the minds of the people 
were only debased enough to unite in it with a suflicient degree of interest, 
and with true devotion. For further particulars, see Bowling's History 
of Romanism, page 213. 



20 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 

We may say then, with all confidence : Let them build 
their costly cathedrals ! It is so much money locked up. 
We can employ ours better in sending out Bibles and tracts 
and Colporteurs. Let them import their sacred relics ! 
their dead men's bones/ our people have too little veneration 
for living virtue to worship the contents of the charnel 
house. They love their money too well to give their thou- 
sands for a chaplet, or a rosary that has been shaken in the 
Sanct'issima Scodella, or the holy porringer, in which pap was 
made for the infant Jesus. * Nor will they fall paralyzed 
to the earth, at the blinking of a little image : Yankee in- 
genuity will detect the string ! 

The officer of Napoleon understood this kind of miracle 
when, in consequence of the French troops having inves- 
ted Naples, it was proclaimed to the terrified inhabitants — 
in the hope of inflaming their zeal, that the blood of St. 
Januarius had curdled in the vial, and neither prayer or 
penance could liquify it, so long as these infidel troops 
remained within the city ; he coolly planted his cannon in 
the streets and sent to the vicar of the bishops, that 
if the blood of St. Januarius did not boil in ten minutes he 
Avould demolish the City. The argument of the soldier 
was more efficacious than the prayers of the priests ; for 
in five minutes the angry saint was pacified and permitted 
his blood to liquify, to the great relief of the anxious mul- 
titude. 

We say then: Let the great and terrible beast utter his 
high sounding and blasphemous edicts, and put forth his 
arrogant pretensions ; his voice is no longer clothed with 
thunder; the earth does not tremble, as it once did, when 



* Protestant incredulity may enquire how this wonderful porringer came 
at Loretta, when Christ was nurtured in Nazareth; but Catholic ingenuity, 
prolific in tradition— asserts unblushingly, that it was carried by angels 
through the air. What a work this for one of God's ministering spiritsi 



OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 21 

his roar was heard from the depths of his bloody cavern. 
He has no inquisition, no auto da fe, no rack, no implement 
of torture that he dare plant on American soil. The iron 
teeth, which Daniel saw in his vision, were knocked out 
two hundred years ago, and he can no more devour and 
"wear out the saints of the Most High." He cannot even 
presume on the ignorance and credulity of the multitude. 
And without any of these auxiliaries he is impotent — di- 
vested of that which has rendered him formidable in times 
past. Roman Catholicism may exist here as a sect, but as 
a spiritual despotism never ! 

2. In relation to the second source of danger — Slavery 
— I can only express my own conviction, that whatever di- 
versity of spirit, or sectional prejudice may exist in the 
minds of a few excitable spirits, the great body of the na- 
tion is still as the heart of one man. We have had abun- 
dant evidence of the fact, that the masses of the people, 
(on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line) love the union 
better than sectional interest. And if we ever should come 
to that fearful crisis, which many apprehend, millions of 
honest patriots will doubtless rise up to preserve the Con- 
stitution, unmutilated and untarnished. 

3. As for barbarism, " though one of the learned Doc- 
tors of the present day * has published a sermon, in which 
he attempts to prove this to be the "first danger ;" yet an 
assumption so bold and improbable will hardly find a res- 
ponse in any mind, that has reflected deeply upon our pres- 
ent position and relations. 

For my own part, lean perceive too many evidences of 
the hand of God in our position, to believe that all these 
advances which we have made are for nothing, and that 
this fair heritage of ours is again to be the theatre of sav- 

• Dr. H, Biishiiell, of Hartford Conn. 



22 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 

age warfare, and barbarous practices. Or that these in- 
stitutions, planted on Christianity, and nurtured by prayer, 
are to crumble into ruins. I cannot believe, that the 
wheels of time are to roll backward nineteen hundred years, 
and the sun of the nineteenth century set in the darkness 
of the first. I believe, that amid all the adverse influen- 
ces which surround us, there is a steady and constant ad- 
vance, and that there is a sure progress toward the uni- 
versal triumphs of Christianity, and civil and religious lib' 
erty. 

It is necessary, to the final prevalence of truth, that all 
forms of infidelity, and corrupt religion should have time 
to develope their nature, and influence upon society ; that 
the world may grow wiser by experience. It is necessary 
that all experiments in social life should be tried ; that by 
their failure we may learn how God designed society should 
be framed. We have gained much by the experiments of 
Robert Dale Owen and Fourier, and more by their failure. 
It is necessary, that all the e^^citing questions of the day 
should come up, and be met ; that at length our infant 
institutions may settle down upon a solid foundation. 

The march of discovery and improvement is onward, 
over all the rubbish of demolished systems and exploded 
theories ; until the glorious mission to which we have been 
called, shall be accomplished ; and until the influence of a 
pure Christianity is felt over all the world. 

1. I remark, first : That we should be thankful to God 
that we live in the present age. A time, when we can be- 
hold so much to confirm our faith in those principles which 
we cherish, as the foundation of everything good. A time, 
when the discoveries of science, the researches of the an- 
tiquarian in reading the long lost record of the past, and 
the enterprise of the traveller, in exhuming those great 



OF THE AMEEICAN PEOPLE. 23 

cities, long buried in the earth, are all throwing light upon 
the saci-ed record. An age, when we have so many prac- 
tical demonstrations of the inability of man to rise from 
his natural degradation, without this infallible guide^ 
When we see the inefficiency of all human systems of phi- 
losophy to guide the mind aright, and the insecurity of all 
secular governments ; unless founded upon the. immutable 
principles of Jehovah's empire. An age when we have 
the experience of six thousand years of experiment to di- 
rect our future course. These are all so many beacons, 
planted by God himself; making the night of ignorance, 
superstition and folly, radiant with the light of heavenly 
truth. 

2. Again. We should be thankful that we live in a land 
of freedom, civil and religious. 

We should be grateful to God that he has permitted us 
to occupy so important a place, in redeeming the world 
from the bondage of error and superstition. We may each 
of us, devoutly lift our hearts in thanksgiving, that we have 
received so rich a legacy from a pious ancestry ; that God 
has placed us where we may contribute directly to the glo- 
rious consummation which he has predicted. 

Whether we admit it, or not, it is doubtless true, that 
the present generation is to mould the character of those 
who will inhabit this land, when instead of scores we shall 
number hundreds of millions. What an influence such a 
nation, possessing all these elements of power will exert 
upon the destiny of our race. 

I suppose, that a wave might be agitated on the Atlan- 
tic coast, that should roll on, communicating its impulse to 
other waves, until it should finally break upon the shores of 
another continent. So Ave may agitate a wave of influ- 



24 THE GLORIOUS MISSION 



; 



ence, that shall roll on in society, from generation to gene- 
ration, until it breaks upon the shores of eternity. 

I know not how this subject may affect other minds ; 
but when I look at the indications of Providence, and then 
into the grand panorama of the world's history, and at 
the foreshadowing of coming events as they are depicted 
in the sublime imagery of inspired minds, I seem to stand 
amid the very counsels of heaven ; A'iewing as the finger 
of Omnipotence directs my gaze, the falling of kingdoms, 
and the clashing of empires, and the terrible march oi 
marshalled legions, as so man}^ surges of the ocean oi 
time ; upon whose heaving billows are borne the fleets and 
armies of the King of Heaven to possess the earth. 

Let us then, open our eyes wide to the glorious prospeci 
before us. Let us possess those comprehensive views o 
the plan of God, which shall expand and ennoble our owr 
souls; and which shall fit us to act our pai-t in this great 
work. Let us, above all, so fill our places in society, tha* 
generations yet unborn shall rise up and call us blessed. 
This generation will soon be gathered with the fathers who 
have preceded us ; but if faithful to God, and to our coun- 
try, perhaps it will be our privilege to look down from the 
lofty battlements of Heaven, and behold the consummation 
of the work that we have commenced, and there to join 
with the millions of earth and Heaven in the universal 
anthem, which shall proclaim that " The kingdoms of this 
world have become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

I 



